>>>That is every man until they are changed by God to be born again. Then they are no longer blind. Then they see.
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>>You obviously do not know the tale of the Blindmen and the Elephant. You touch only a portion of the truth and mistake it for the truth. That is not seeing, that is blinding yourself to everything else for the comfort (and arrogant smugness) of thinking you have all the answers. A truly wise man has more questions than answers and has the humility to understand just how ignorant one can be.
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>The last sentence is very true. Perhaps an enlightened man has no questions or answers ...
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>>>That passage means men must come to Jesus in the same way little children believe what you tell them -- they just accept it on faith.
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>>I do think you believe what you have been told, just as a little child does. That is sad. A little child will continue to grow and experience, not blinded by thinking the know everything.
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>>The passage actually means that a childlike sense of wonder and discovery is a state of grace. A certainty that no longer discovers and ceases to question is the fall from grace.
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>A child has no ego, no sense of self, no "I". This is what I think to be as a child means in this passage.

ha - well that as close as I've seen so now I will jump in. I started to touch on this before but I'm kinda getting annoyed and having to correct Rick about his own religion.

First of all the bible never says to have childlike faith or to believe as children do.
In Matthew 18:2-4 Jesus says that we must 'become as little children.' He wasn't talking about faith here, he was talking about humility. Whoever 'humbles himself' as a little child is the 'greatest in the kingdom of heaven,' and unless the christian is converted to become like little children, they can't enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said this when a disciple asked 'Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?' There is no discussion of faith in this anywhere in this passage. Jesus is telling people to seek the humility of a child who is destitute of ambition, pride, and haughtiness. Children are characteristically humble and teachable.
But the faith of children is not the kind of faith these christians are supposed to have. Children are easily fooled, tricked, led astray, etc etc.. Children tend to accept things unquestioningly, often missing truth while being drawn to myths and fantasies. Christians are not to have the faith of little children. What about where the bible says to “'test everything' and hold on to what is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21), comparing all things to the infallible 'word of god' and not automatically accepting everything we hear?? Hebrews 11:1 says that 'faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,' but that doesn’t mean to accept blindly like children do. True faith is characterized by 'assurance' and 'conviction,' not by blind belief for no reason. Childlike faith, while perhaps a good place to start, must mature into faith that leads to certainty.

>>You have ceased to wonder and ceased to question and are convinced that the customs of your tribe are the laws of nature. Before being born again your education must have been very limited and your world very small or you could not find this comforting.
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>>Do not confuse your pride and ego with the voice of god.
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>The interpretation of experience through one's prior conditioning - how to free oneself from the prison of the known.